Roasted Cauliflower Steaks With Red Pepper Sauce

Cook this recipe once and you'll have some red pepper sauce left over for later. Slather it onto sandwiches, or drizzle it onto grilled vegetables, chicken, or fish—it lends any dish a tasty kick.

Total Time: 0:50

Prep: 0:15

Cook: 0:35

Level:
Easy

Yield:
4 servings

Ingredients

For the red pepper sauce

1 slice country-style whole wheat bread

Olive oil cooking spray

1/2 c. almonds, toasted

3 Garlic cloves

1 (12-oz) jar roasted red peppers

1 tbsp. tomato paste, plus a bit more as needed

1 tbsp. chopped parsley

1 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. regular or smoked paprika

1/2 c. sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar

1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil

coarse salt

For the roasted cauliflower

1 large cauliflower

1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. coarse salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 c. parsley leaves, torn

Directions

Make the sauce. Spray both sides of bread
lightly with olive oil cooking
spray. Place bread in a small
nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, and cook, flipping
once, until crisp and golden,
1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove
from skillet, and let cool.

Grind bread with almonds
and garlic in a food processor
until fairly fine. Add roasted
peppers, tomato paste, parsley,
red pepper flakes, and paprika,
and process until smooth. With
machine running, gradually pour
in vinegar and olive oil. Season
with a couple of pinches of
coarse salt. (Taste; if you feel it needs a little more tomato
paste, add it by no more than
1 teaspoon at a time.) Cover, and set
aside. (You can make the sauce
a few days ahead and refrigerate
it for up to 1 week.)

Make the cauliflower. Heat oven to 375°F, and line
a rimmed baking sheet with
parchment paper. Halve
cauliflower, keeping core intact.
Cutting from center out, make
as many slices as you can, each
1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Reserve small
florets for another meal. Brush
cauliflower with oil, and season
well with salt and pepper on
both sides.

Transfer slices to prepared
baking sheet. Bake until the
core is tender when pierced
with a knife and each slice is
slightly brown on the bottom,
15 to 20 minutes.

Arrange slices on plates,
and add a generous spoonful
of the sauce, on top or on the
side. Scatter with parsley.